A law blog addressing the foci of 3 intrepid law geeks, specializing in their respective fields of knowledge management, internet marketing and library sciences, melding together to form the Dynamic Trio.

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12/3/08

Well, the visits to 3 Geeks and a Law Blog shot into the stratosphere this week with our posting of Monday's List of Large Law Firm's "Officially Sanctioned Blogs". With help from the ABA Journal Online and Above the Law, we've had thousands (yes, thousands!) of visits to what we believe to be the best Legal Blog covering Technology, SEO, Competitive Intelligence, and Law Library issues on the web.

In part II of our study on Big Law Firm Blogs, we wanted to see how it "appears" to the casual viewer on what the firms actually think of their attorneys' blogs. As we stated in part I, the firms that had blogs tended to fall into two camps:

Blog-Proud: These firms actually make it very easy to find their attorney's blogs. Either by putting it in the "publications" section of their web page, or listing it in some other very visible portion of the blog.

Blog-Tolerant: These firms look like they would rather bury the attorney's blogs and not have anyone view them. Perhaps that really isn't the case, but if the only place you can find a mention of an attorney's blog is by finding the specific attorney and then searching for the term "blog" or "blawg", then it sure seems to be something that the firm isn't very proud of.

I'm going to go through the list alphabetically, and give my personal observation of whether a firm is "Blog-Proud" or "Blog-Tolerant". But first, let me share a little bit of my methodology with you, so that when you say to yourself "what an idiot for missing this popular blog", you'll at least know why I missed it. I have literally gone through each of the websites for the NLJ 250 to see if they list their Blogs somewhere on the site. I start by browsing the Home Pages and the Publication pages. I'll skim the Practice Group page list to see if it is listed there, but if it isn't obvious, I assume it isn't there. The last process I do before giving up is to search the web site using the firm's search tool (or Google if the firm doesn't have a search tool.) I find a lot that way, but it isn't a perfect research method, so I may have missed some, too. So, if I did miss some, kindly let me know and I'll correct that portion of the list as needed.

So, here we go:

Akin Gump
Blog-Tolerant
The blogs were so hidden that I missed some of the most well-know blogs out there. I even got comments from people that thought I was "absurd" for not listing them. When in truth, the blogs were very, very difficult to find.

Alston Bird
Blog-Proud
Blogs were easily found on the Home Page under “Resources”

Baker & Daniels
Blog-Tolerant
I needed to find an old press release in order to uncover the BenefitsbizBlog.The B&D Consulting link came from a comment.

Baker Hostetler
Blog-Tolerant
This blog was mentioned on Paul G. Karlsgodt’s bio page.I had to use the search option and then skim through the results to find it.

Balch & Bingham
Blog-Proud
Found it very easily under the “News, Events & Publications” drop-down menu.Took me straight to the blog.

Bracewell & Giuliani
Blog-Proud
Listed right under the “Highlights” portion of the home page.In fact, somehow I missed their Financial Industry Task Force Blog the first time I visited the page.I’ve since added it to the list.

CooleyGodwardBlog-Tolerant
The blog was listed under the Practice Group page rather than under the publications tab.Again, I had to search for the blog and weed through the results to find it.

Davis Wright Tremaine
Blog-Proud
No problem finding the blogs here.Found it easily under the aptly named “News, Blogs & Awards” Section on the firm’s home page.

Dechert
Blog-Tolerant
With Dechert, I actually had to do a Google search using “Blog” site:dechert.com to find the results as the firm doesn’t seem to even have a search tool for its own site.

Dewey & LeBoeuf
Blog-Tolerant
To find the blogs from Dewey, you have to search the site, and then go through the bios in order to find them.Michael C. Dorf and Lyle Roberts blogs were not easily found, which is too bad.

Dorsey & Whitney
Blog-Tolerant
Dorsey surprised me because I hear they are launching some new blogs in the near future.At this time, however, you have to search and find Roy A. Ginsburg’s bio to find the existing blog.

EdwardsAngell
Blog-Proud
The blog was pretty easily found under the Newstand link on the home page.Listed in the types of publications was a “Blog” list.

Foley Hoag
Blog-Proud
Very Blog-Proud in fact. Big and bold under the firms “News & Resources” link there is a “Blog” Section all to itself.

Fox Rothschild
Blog-Proud
Fox Rothschild puts its link to the Blog section right on the home page, top-center.This is one of the easiest blogs to find out of all the firms listed.

Frost Brown ToddBlog-ProudJust like Fox Rothschild, Frost Brown Todd puts the blog information right on the home page with a link in the “Resources” drop-down.Very Blog-Proud.

Holland & Hart
Blog-Proud
H&H also list their blogs on the home page under the “In Focus” area.

Thompson & Knight
Blog-Proud
Easily found on the home page under the Publications drop-down.

WallerLansdenBlog-Proud
Listed directly on the home page as “Visit Our Blogs”.Not much easier than that.

Williams Mullen
Blog-Proud
Blog link is placed at the top of the home page.Although it could be a little bit bigger, it is still front and center.

WilmerHale
Blog-Tolerant
You have to search for these blogs.And, the results seem weird because these are recruiting blogs, not legal topic blogs.

WinsteadPCBlog-Proud
I’m giving Winstead a pass here because they have a press release on the home page announcing the start of this blog.I hope they continue to keep it listed where people can easily find it.

WombleCarlyleBlog-Proud
Womble displays the link to the blog section prominently on the home page.

Thanks Bruce. You hit on one of my upcoming posts on the topic of what are the pros and cons of having an officially sanctioned blog. There have been some good comments on the freedom that a personal blog gives you to post without having to clear it with those in Marketing, or within your Practice group.

As for the table. I'm trying to fix that. It worked great in IE and Chrome, but FireFox is giving me some "issues."

MissInformation: Here's a quick rundown of the stats:A. 55 out of 250 (22%) Firms have blogsB. 25 of the 55 (45%) Were "Blog-Tolerant"C. 30 of the 55 (55%) Were "Blog-Proud"

NOTE: My methods wouldn't stand up to the statistical methods used by a true statistician, and are simply what I interpreted from my going to each of the 250 firm's websites and attempting to find the blogs related to the firm. So, although I'm extremely satisfied with what I've pulled together, if you're looking for a pure list of blogs and could care less if the firm is supporting (or taking ownership) of them, then Kevin O'Keefe's List of AmLaw 200 Firm Blogs would be the list you'd want to see. Kevin also has some nice graphs that break down the different blogs.

Not a bad idea. It would be interesting to take this list and compare it to Kevin O'Keefe's list to see what shows up on one that doesn't on the other and determine why that is. Hmmm.... I'll have to think about what would be the best (aka "easiest") method to do that.